The Not Quite End
by the Sin Hunter Alchemist
Summary: Another mission gone awry for Reno and Rude is almost deadly. It causes Reno to reevaluate life. RxR Oneshot


A little piece of Reno/Rude that's mostly inspired by "The Glorious End of the Line," a piece of fanart by **Caryn-Alongi** on deviantart. It was a challenge from my best friend. Which brings up my next point. I accept most challenges. In fact, I work best with challenges. So, if you like this and/or my other works, challenge me with a pairing and plot or picture.

oooooooo

Reno was thrown back as another explosion shook the ground he was no longer standing on. Grabbing onto one of the few walls not yet crumbing, he did a quick scan or the area.

There were some people still struggling with the constant tremors and the fires that had sprung up, but not very many had survived the first explosion. Reno hoped dearly that more had gotten out of the surrounding apartments than had escaped from the hotel.

The explosions were getting more frequent, and if this was kept up there would be nothing left to blow up here.

"Rude!" the red head shouted, searching desperately for his partner. "Rude! Where the hell did you go?"

Another bomb was triggered, but this time Reno kept his ground. This was most likely due to the amazing support of the building he clung to. It was one of the few still standing.

Biting his lip, Reno allowed himself a moment of quiet fear. It wasn't supposed to end like this.

oooooooo

"Hey, partner, what'cha doin'?"

Rude didn't even look up from the file on his desk.

"Got a new mission," he explained, pointing at the pages full of small text before him.

"New mission? What's with the concentration then? You never look this serious for a mission."

Reno was given what he assumed to be a blank stare. With a smirk, he sprawled himself across Rude's back, chin resting on the older man's bald head. He reached down for the file, otherwise unmoving.

"What'd I tell you about doing that?" the solemn man asked, tone dry.

"Not to?" Reno supplied, cocking his head so that now his cheek rest against the darker skin. "C'mon, Rude, lets not go down that road again, yo."

His only response was a low grunt, but he wasn't pushed off, so he took that as a good thing.

After a few minutes, he dropped the file onto Rude's lap.

"Think it's a set up?" he asked, stretching.

With a nod, Rude stood, putting the file away.

"Doesn't seem too risky," Reno continued, sending Rude a questioning look when the other opened the door.

"Just keep your head down and it'll be fine."

ooooooooo

Suddenly, the wall he clung to shot out at him.

"Dammit!" Reno cried out, trying to get back up. He was covered in rubble now, so he didn't get any father than sitting up before he realized he was stuck.

"Dammit!" he repeated, slamming his fist into ground. He lay back down, glaring at the orange sky. "Where the hell are you Rude?!"

ooooooooo

They had arrived at the given location at the given time. Reno had let out a low whistle as they entered the hotel, obviously the only classy place in the whole district.

"It say who we're supposed to be watching out for, partner?" the red head asked in a low tone.

"Said to watch out for suspicious folk."

He gave Rude an amused smirk.

"Outta all of the folks here, we're the most suspicious. Got anything better than that, yo?"

Rude didn't have enough time to respond. That's when the reception desk blew up.

Immediately, the Turks spilt up, each trying to get just one more life out that door before the whole building fell.

oooooooooo

"Reno!"

"Rude?" the red head called back, struggling to sit up again. "Rude!"

His partner came staggering around a pile of debris, rumpled, but otherwise still in one piece.

"Where the hell have you been?" he exclaimed, collapsing next to Reno.

"I was about to ask you the same thing, yo," Reno answered with a slightly strained, lazy smirk. "Say, you think you can get me outta here before this shit crushes me?"

Rude gave a sharp nod before getting to work on removing the rubble. Soon, Reno was able to stand again.

"Thanks part-"

He was cut off as another explosion ripped threw the air. Reno, no longer having a wall before, grabbed the next best thing.

Rude staggered, falling onto his knees from the extra weight attached to his jacket.

"Reno? You okay, partner?"

A week chuckle slipped from the younger man's lips.

"You know, I kinda feel exhausted all of a sudden."

And that's when things went black.

ooooooooooo

"Hey! I think he's waking up!"

Reno bit back a moan as his eyes slid open, the back shut, not ready to face the blinding light or the deep brown eyes of a worried Elena.

"Damn," he muttered, eyes opening again.

Elena hovered over him, looking as if she wasn't sure whether to stay back or jump him.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, almost twitching.

Reno gave her a dry look.

"I feel like I just got a building dumped on me and then was tossed around afterwards."

"Yea," she said, a nervous smile on her face, "that's pretty much how it happened, isn't it?"

Shrugging, which he then decided wasn't worth the pain, he glanced over at the door.

"Are you waiting for an invitation or something?"

Rude grunted, stepping into the room. Looking between the two, Elena decided it was time to take her leave.

"Tseng is coming to talk to you, so don't even think about slipping out," she warned, closing the door behind her.

"How you feeling, partner?"

Aqua eyes rolled, only to rest on the bald man in a blank stare.

"That is the most annoying question when you're in a hospital, yo," he drawled, attempting to sit up.

"You've only been awake 2 minutes."

"Yea, well, I'm anticipating the worst."

Having gotten into a position that defiantly wasn't laying down, but not quite sitting either, Reno discovered he was stuck.

"Little help here, yo?"

With a small, annoyed noise (and an imagined eye roll from Reno) Rude set about pulling the smaller man up.

"Hey, hey, easy on the ribs!"

"Sorry," Rude grunted, stepping back to let Reno lean against his propped up pillows.

"So, what happened?"

If Rude had been surprised that he had went straight to the business, he didn't show it.

"Terrorist attack. Nothing to do with our job."

"Oh?" Reno stretched his arms above his head, one eye open in a sly little curve. "Just one big coincidence?"

"Looking like it."

"And why is it I have stitches in my side?"

Rude looked mildly surprised for a moment.

"You can tell that without looking?"

"I've had stitches in my side before, Rude," he said in a dry voice. "I know what they feel like from all those times of getting stuck with sharp things. And I don't remember getting stuck with anything sharp."

"Your spleen ruptured." Rude looked uncomfortable as he said it.

"Any complications?"

If he wasn't worried about himself at the moment, Reno would have laughed at how fidgety his partner had gotten.

"Your heart . . . stopped for a minute."

Reno took this information in stride, a thoughtful look across his face.

"So, you're saying I died for a minute there?" he asked.

A clipped nod was his answer.

Reno laughed, a dry, almost bitter laugh.

"Said over my dead body, right?" he muttered. "That's the only way anything could happen. Well, look at what happened! I died!"

Taking a deep breath, he put his smirk back in place before turning back to Rude. Aqua met black lense.

"Hey, Rude, you wanna come over here for a sec?"

Seeing no reason not to, and wanting to stop Reno's increasingly strange behavior, he stepped up so he was at the side of the bed.

Giving him a quick once over, Reno reached up and grabbed his face, pulling him forward.

Rude made a small, startled noise, though otherwise was silent as Reno kissed him. He couldn't say he was expecting this, but he didn't pull away until the red head broke contact.

"You know, that would of been a lot better if you'd have kissed back, yo," Reno muttered with a pout, arms, which were now around Rude's neck, holding the man in place.

"Would have been a lot better if you'd have warned me," was his grumpy response.

"Just go with it, partner," the red head responded, resting his forehead against the other's. "Took me forever and a near-death experience to go with it, so I don't feel like waiting around for you to figure it out."

"You make decisions like this every time you almost die?" Rude asked, but he still didn't pull away.

"Sorta."

"Then we better drop buildings on you more often."

With a grin, Reno pulled Rude down for another kiss.


End file.
